Pure Micro Python without Ui-Flow on my M5Stack core2

lukasmaximus

Hey @Wolli01 unfortunately this option isn't available right now but you can take a look into it yourself if you have the know how, the screen of m5core2 uses littlevgl library which has been ported to micropython https://github.com/lvgl/lv_binding_micropython for the micropython firmware you can just go to micropython.org and download one of the firmwares for generic esp32. As for the various modules there has never been an official github with these available, I have one for mpu6886 and axp on my personal github which should work though. I'm afraid this is going to be like a jigsaw puzzle, piecing various resources together to create the firmware you want

Wolli01

Thanks for the info.

Wolli01

@lukasmaximus
http://micropython.org/download/esp32/
Which file must be taken for the M5Stack Basic and for the Core 2? There are plenty of different ones.
Do you have a small example to output the text hello in the main.py?
The lib. Dateine I have downloaded all from your GitHub account and installed under the lib folder.
I've been trying for hours but the screen always stays blank. It would be nice if you could help.

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lukasmaximus

Hi @Wolli01 as for the M5 Basic you can refer to my video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRNUCBTVy4 As for M5Core2 I cant tell you as I haven't got round to testing pure micropython on this device. If the screen is not displaying anything are you sure you have a micropython driver in the flash and have initialized the screen in your code?

fruplot

@lukasmaximus
Is it possible now to see the actual Micropython libs?
For example is it possible to see the code of the libs to see how the function for the cor2 touch screen work etc?

dhed

The latest lv_micropython can be built for the 'M5CORE2'-board.
(I used ESP-IDF v4.0.2 on Ubuntu 20.04)

Stuff I tested successfully on my M5Core2:

display with lvgl widgets
touchscreen
WLAN
RTC
SDCard (read)

Might be interesting for people searching pure Micropython + lvgl on the Core2.

favnec5

@dhed
hi Dhed, is it possible for you to share the last bin pure lv_micropython firmware for M5CORE ?
it's been several days i 'm trying to compile it but i'm a win64 user... it's hard for me.

dhed

@favnec5 said in Pure Micro Python without Ui-Flow on my M5Stack core2:

@dhed
hi Dhed, is it possible for you to share the last bin pure lv_micropython firmware for M5CORE ?
it's been several days i 'm trying to compile it but i'm a win64 user... it's hard for me.

Here's my compiled firmware: zippyshare-link.
Should be flashable with:

esptool.py --chip esp32 -p COM3 -b 460800 erase_flash
esptool.py -p COM3 -b 460800 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 80m --flash_size 16MB 0x8000 partition-table.bin 0x1000 bootloader.bin 0x10000 micropython.bin

(flashing works even under Windows with the ESP-IDF toolchain installed)

favnec5

@dhed
Hi, thank you for your firmware.
I try lot of things. There is a problem to use SDCard with display driver a the same SPI. SDCard is down :-/
Do you know this problem ?

dhed

@favnec5
My workaround for this (known) problem:

during boot mount the sdcard and load files to ram
then unmout the sdcard
initialize the display

something like:

import uos
from machine import Pin, SDCard

sdcard = SDCard(slot=2, sck=Pin(18), miso=Pin(38), mosi=Pin(23),  cs=Pin(4), freq=40000000)
uos.mount(sdcard, '/sd')
...
uos.umount('/sd')
sdcard.deinit()

before initializing the display:

from ili9XXX import ili9341
lcd = ili9341(spihost=1, mosi=23, miso=38, clk=18, dc=15, cs=5, invert=True, rot=0xC0, width=320, height=240, rst=-1, power=-1, backlight=-1)

I'm loading weathericons to use with openweathermap that way.

favnec5

Hi, the problem is, for me, that i need to write files to the sdCard like a datalogger. I think old lobo’s version do the job but not lv_micropython… @m5stack : official pure m5stack needed to use the core 2 functionalities OR hidden start menu version of uiflow.

Josef

@favnec5 Here is another Micropython port for the Core2. Already thried that with my core2: https://github.com/thuehlinger/micropython-core2

Another note: you do not need to use another firmware, you can use Micropython directly by just not using uiflow. See my repo https://github.com/hjgode/m5home within the lv dir: lv_test.py
Be warned, the LV Binding is not very well documented and often only links to the C API.

purpledread

@dhed

I tried to get your compiled firmware, but that ZippyShare site keeps trying to download other things and I can't get it to download your file.

Thanks,
/Chris

dhed

@purpledread That link still works for me, but here it is uploaded to an alternative.

purpledread

Thanks, the new upload link worked.

/Chris

purpledread

@dhed

That's all working now, including using ampy to copy files and run code.

I'm use to using Mu Editor with my other ESP32 boards.

Is there some way to run Python code and get back error messages if there is an issue in the code?

Thanks!
/Chris

dhed

@purpledread
I'm using VSCode with the PyMakr extension (see LeMaRiva's blog for install-instructions).
Nice IDE with integrated serial-console for REPL and up-/downloading of files.

But I guess any serial-console (i.E. PuTTY) should allow you to see error messages.
Also check micropython.org for instructions to get a REPL over the serial port.

purpledread

@dhed

Actually, ampy is working fairly well.

Thanks,
/Chris

purpledread

@dhed

I'm trying to read from the SD card on startup and then use the display.

If I access the sd card, the program runs with no errors, but nothing displays.

I tried initializing the display using the example you gave, but I get an error that there isn't enough DMA-able memory to allocate the display buffer.

/Chris

purpledread

@dhed

Sorry for the newbe questions. You've been a big help.

When you say you load files to ram from the boot.py file, how do you access that ram from the main.py file?